Lula’s Social Policies: New Wine in Old Bottles?

Alcino Ferreira Camara Neto and Matías Vernengo

Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah from University of Utah, Department of Economics

Abstract: It has become common sense to argue that the reforms of social policies after the 1988 Constitution were somehow instrumental in explaining social progress, and that Lula’s policies mark a break with the 1988 Constitution. We suggest that both propositions are misleading. We argue that the financialization of government expenditures has led to worsening income distribution, and by limiting the ability of the state to increase social spending it has limited the ability of the state to reduce social inequalities. We argue that a recovery of Keynesian ideas about full employment and the euthanasia of the rentier are central for the development of a more just and civilized society in Brazil.

Keywords: Income Inequality; Social Policies; Keynesian Policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E25 H50 O54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac and nep-pbe
Date: 2006
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Published in Political Economy of Brazil, Philip Arestis and Alfredo Saad-Filho (eds.), London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008.

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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uta:papers:2006_07

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